74 



INTRODUCTION. 



gone as usual to the market-place for fresh beef and vegetables, and 

 butchered the greater part of them. As soon as this was reported 

 at the castle, the governor sent out troops to protect the strangers, 

 and the few that escaped owed their lives to this precaution. The 

 admiral procured an exchange of prisoners on this occasion. 



The same evening the Araucano carried the news to Ancon, where 

 it was received in the most enthusiastic manner by the army. On 

 the 8th the O'Higgins and Esmeralda also arrived at Ancon, where 

 again the army cheered the admiral, and were full of hopes that they 

 should now attack the town. Guayaquil had declared itself inde- 

 pendent ; the Numantian regiment had joined the liberating force. 

 The enemy's best ship was taken, and the moral effect of these 

 events, not to speak of the daily, though slight advantages gained by 

 several officers, were calculated not only to elevate the patriots and 

 to encourage their secret friends to declare themselves, but to dispirit 

 the enemy. But though every thing seemed to court him to action, 

 San Martin could by no means be induced to change his cautious 

 plans, and therefore on the 9th he proceeded to Huacho, still farther 

 from Lima, and, with the whole army, disembarked and fixed his 

 head-quarters at Supe, whence he proposed to detach one-half of his 

 army to Guayaquil, probably with a view to secure that province as 

 part of his future empire. This most imprudent scheme was how* 

 ever abandoned, and the general contented himself with causing the 

 troops to fall back from Chancay to Huaura, at the very time 

 when, in addition to the happy circumstances already mentioned, 

 Truxillo * had emancipated itself, and General Arenales had obtained 

 a decided victory over the royalists under General O'Reilly at 

 Pasco, on the 6th of December, "f The troops soon began to feel the 

 bad effects of the unhealthy situation of Huaura, and nearly one- 



* The province of Truxillo was declared free on the 29th of December by the Governor, 

 the Marques de Torre Tagle. 



f The enemy's loss was 58 killed, 18 wounded, 343 prisoners, including 28 officers, 

 two pieces of artillery, 300 muskets, the banners, ammunition, &c. ; the rout was so 

 complete, that O'Reilly fled with only three lancers, the battle having lasted forty minutes. 

 Arenales lost one officer and five men killed, and twelve wounded. 



